Myanmar police seize over 26 million stimulant tablets

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in Myanmar's largest city said Tuesday that they've seized more than 26 million stimulant tablets with a street value of over $100 million, in what appears to be the country's biggest such seizure ever.

Counter-narcotics police officer Myint Aung said officers seized 26.7 million stimulant tablets on Sunday after an inspection of a parked vehicle in Yangon's northern suburbs. The pills, identified by police as amphetamine hydrochloride, were packed in 89 bags, he told The Associated Press.

Myanmar is also a major source of methamphetamine, a related stimulant, much of which is trafficked to neighboring Thailand, where abuse of the drug is rampant.

Police said stimulant pills are worth about 5,000 kyat ($4) apiece, so the total street value of the haul would be 133.5 million kyat ($107 million).

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan and has been infamous for decades for drug production in the Golden Triangle area, where its eastern border meets with northern Thailand and western Laos.